Council allows ice skating rink in Town Park again this year

By Ed FincherStaff Writer

The Pagosa Springs Town Council agreed last week to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Friends of the Pagosa Multi-Purpose Pavilion (Friends) to allow for the construction and operation of a temporary ice-skating rink on the Town Park athletic field this winter.

The group built and operated a rink at that location last year, but according to Parks and Recreation Supervisor Darren Lewis, they asked for a few changes this year, including the installation of three telephone poles to allow for a shade structure to protect the ice from the sun.

Lewis introduced Brian Collabolletta, who presented the request on behalf of the Friends.

“I think you guys all remember how it went last year,” Collabolletta began. “We need to change our location and we are going to go smaller than we did last year. It was hard to do something that big, and we learned a lot.”

Last year, the rink was 161 feet by 77 feet, according to Collabolletta, but this year it will be 100 by 60. The rink will also be relocated to a better spot. Last year the ice was at times 14 inches thick on one end and only a half of an inch thick on the other.

The new location will be flatter and easier to see from the highway, since it will be closer to the south end of the field. Collabolletta showed the council a satellite image of the park with the new location penciled in.